How do you define cool?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I like to think I’m a cool person, at least not a socially awkward loser. Luckily most of my dates from OKCupid have fallen into the former category as well, but I went on a date the other night that was with a guy who screamed “NOT COOL!”

I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, though.

I’m thinking it has something to do with these issues:

[ul]
[li]Life experience- I’ve got great heaps of this, a lot of it in areas that most people don’t. I’ve had to dress a stab wound en route to the hospital, I have more than my fair share of crazy friends, I love to travel (there’s that funny story about how I went to Mardi Gras by accident) and I’m always willing to try something at least once. So if you tell me a story about the funniest/craziest thing that’s ever happened to you, and it makes me yawn, you instantly lose cool points.[/li]
[li]Confidence- this is something that’s become more abundant as I’ve gotten older, but I’ve always had some, or could fake it, even when I was shy. There used to be a request-only radio show I listened to once a week, and without fail they’d play me making my request on the radio. I eventually figured out (based on watching my friends call in requests) I’m one of the few people that doesn’t get all nervous and giggly in that situation, and would just make small talk like normal. One night they played an entire conversation with me, which was weird, but whatever. Either that or I have the best phone voice e-VAR.[/li]
[li]Acceptance of quirks- if you collect stamps, or play shuffleboard, or jam out to Peter, Paul, and Mary every morning, you have to have a sense of irony and self-deprecating humor about it. I love dorky things too, and don’t feel apologetic or get all serious about them. I embrace my dorkiness with good humor, because I know if I don’t I will just look like a weirdo.[/li][/ul]

What else can make a lepidopterist, Coke bottle glasses-wearing, bocce ball-playing, geography major cool?

*Note: I love dorks and nerds. I never take myself seriously, and am probably the biggest dork around. So no offense to any lepidopterists or geography majors intended, I’m just looking to define that je ne sais quoi that makes a person cool regardless of their appearance or interests.

2

Not worrying about being cool.

3

Duh, I forgot the most important one. :smack: Although I think that’s sort of a subset of confidence- my best male friend has been known to wear a drum major hat in all seriousness, and he just looks awesome as opposed to weird when he does it.

4

Certainly the definition of cool is to act like you are correctly dressed when you’re not really, and that you are at home in where you don’t really belong. Some people manage it by being self-centered egotists, some by being oblivious naïfs, and some just learn to be tough and bluff it out.

5

I keep it cool.
I take my kids to school.
Don’t lose my temper,
It’s my only rule.
I keep it cool.
I never play the fool.
Don’t like politics as usual.
I keep it cool.
– Barack Obama

6

Lacking social awareness, sucking up for a tiny bit of approval, and not getting a read on one’s environment are pretty much the opposite of cool.

7

This pretty much sums it up. I wish I’d learned that in high school. Only after I graduated college did I realize that the cool, popular people were that way because they assumed they were and didn’t worry about it. We were all just insecure enough to believe them.

8

That sums up a little of it, but there’s another part of it. “He’s so cool” and “He keeps his cool” are fairly different, but probably have the same origins. The latter is composure and presence. The former is the latter with Italian sunglasses.